Consultants Leon and Will Younger with PROS Consulting updated Norfolk City Council members on the results of a community survey about parks and recreation needs in the community. The survey was conducted as part of the creation of a long-range master plan for parks and rec development in the city.

The Youngers, who are spearheading work on the master plan, said 594 residents completed the survey and that they were pleased that the number of respondents to the survey exceeded their expectations. Will Younger explained the various aspects of the master plan importance of community engagement in the plan process.

“Really, we looked at it through three ways, where are we today, where are we going tomorrow as a community and how do we get there,” Younger said. “… we really did a lot of community engagement, which included a statistically valid survey of the community, an online survey that … anybody could take, we looked at demographics and trends in the community, how is the community changing and what are the recreation trends.”

Will Younger said part of their work was also a comparison of parks and rec facilities in Norfolk with other similar communities in Nebraska.

Of the almost 600 participants, 420 surveys were submitted directly to PROS while 174 surveys were submitted online. Some of the key survey results include:

— 32% wanted multi-use paved trails.

— 23% wanted an indoor swimming or leisure pool.

— 18% wanted a natural or wildlife habitat area.

— 16% wanted more indoor fitness areas.

— 16% wanted an indoor walking or running track.

Survey respondents also prioritized parks and rec programs they’d like to see in the community, including:

— 34% wanted adult fitness and wellness programs.

— 18% wanted nature programs.

— 17% wanted active senior programs.

These priorities were identified from a list of dozens of potential parks and rec improvement possibilities for the community. PROS also conducted two community engagement meetings and formed five focus groups to address proposed parks and rec needs in the community.

According to city parks and rec director Nathan Powell, the master plan is part of the city’s overall effort to improve facilities in the community over the next several years, and the presentation on Tuesday was an effort to gain preliminary feedback from council members.

“What we want to hear from you is feedback on what you want to see in the master plan, and what you don’t want to see in the master plan, and give us something that we can bring back in April for the master plan presentation.”

While council members said they were pleased with the results of the survey and progress on the master plan to date, there were questions about how the city would fund the projects. Council president Shane Clausen said he believed identifying specific avenues for improvement project funding needed to be part of the presentation.

“I feel like we’ve got the cart ahead of the horse maybe a little bit if we don’t know the revenue funding part of it,” Clausen said. “We talk about hopes and dreams, but we don’t talk about how it all comes together in a feasible way that’s community driven.”

Leon Younger said most communities the size of Norfolk employ a variety of funding methods for master plan projects similar to the one they plan to propose to the city. PROS will be working with city staff to identify funding alternatives for the proposed improvements, although they said that grant programs, community partnerships and donations or additional hotel/motel or alcohol were possibilities.

Councilman Justin Webb said that although he appreciated the survey results, it was important that the community understand that some of the proposed projects, like an indoor swimming pool, would not be considered by the council until the public made it clear that it was a priority.

“We keep talking about this indoor pool a lot. There’s several elected bodies that serve the citizens of Norfolk. I don’t think an indoor pool … I don’t think this elected body is interested in pushing this. … That’s a community-driven thing that’s not going to come from council,” Webb said. “I appreciate the survey and the results, but a lot of these projects, I don’t want the perception that this is what we’re trying to do here on at the council.”

Mayor Josh Moenning also clarified that the parks and rec master plan was an important step for the city on being able to procure possible grant funding for any future projects.